Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club

WSEH AC received a tremendous boost this week with a notification from UK Athletics that they had been awarded Top UK Club status in 3 of 5 categories based on the National Individual Ranking lists for 2009.

WSEH were top ranked in the Speed category covering the Sprints and Hurdles and the Throws category covering Shot, Discus, Hammer, and Javelin.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, in view of these top ranking in two of the categories, WSEH also received the final and most prestigious accolade as Top Club Overall in the UK.

The awards took account of the Top 10 individual rankings for WSEH athletes across the various age groups from Under 13 to Senior level, both male and female.

The honours are a tribute to the quality of coaching available at WSEH, the level of competition being achieved by the various WSEH teams via the Team Managers, the facilities available to the club at TVAC and the hard work being put in behind the scenes by Club officers in the management of the Club

Those athletes that have contributed directly to the awards, by way of their Top 10 rankings are listed separately.

As far as team success last season, the list is impressive:

UK Womens National League Div 1 - 3rd placed
British Mens National League Div 1 – Runners Up
National Junior (U20) League - 5th placed National Final
National Young Athletes League (U17/15/13) – 3rd placed National Final
Southern Womens League – Div 1 – Champions
National Young Athletes League – Southern champions.

The Club’s athletes were also prominent at international level. These include:

Hayley Yelling – European Cross Country Champion
Nigel Levine – Bronze Medal 4x400m Relay World Indoor Championships
Silver medal 400m European U23 Championships
Nicola Sanders – Semi finalist 400m – World Championships
Rion Pierre – Bronze medal 200m European U23 Championships
Deji Tobais – Bronze medal 4x100m relay – European U20 Championships.
Lawrence Clarke – European U20 Champion 110m Hurdles (WSEH had 6 athletes at these Championships)
Rikki Letch – semi finalist at the World Youth Championships (and recently voted as ‘most promising UK young athlete’ by the British Sports Writers Association)
Other internationals during 2009/10 have been: Max Galliers(100m), Dawn Hunt (400m), Ainsley Campbell(400m) Ben Reynolds (110m Hurdles), Ashley Bryant, Matt George (Decathlon/Heptathlon), Shelayna Oskan(400m), Laura Burke(400m Hurdles), Dan Pembroke (Javelin)
Many of these athletes will be prime contenders for a place in the GB team in the 2012 London Olympics.

These honours have been achieved against strong opposition from clubs that enjoy commercial sponsorship and/or, in the case of the big city clubs, substantial subsidies from their Local Authority.

In contrast, WSEH have no such sponsorship, relying totally on their own fund raising activities to maintain the current high level of achievement being reached by the Club.

Club funds will be stretched even further this summer with the announcement that the National Young Athletes League Finals will take place in Manchester as the usual Birmingham venue is unavailable. WSEH thus face the prospect of finding costs approaching £2,000 to fund the travel and overnight accommodation for a team of some 70 plus young athletes in the Under 13 to Under 17 age range.
Potential sponsors from local commerce/industry would thus be most welcome.
Contact initially: Dennis Daly 01753 686169, email rudidad@yahoo.co.uk

WINDSOR SLOUGH ETON & HOUNSLOW AC

NATIONAL TOP 10 RANKINGS 2009 SUMMER SEASON